Kings to honor victims, heroes from Las Vegas tragedy

The Los Angeles Kings will honor the many victims and heroes from Sunday’s horrible tragedy in Las Vegas, including the recognition of team employee, Christiana Duarte, who was killed in the incident, on Thursday, as part of the Kings-Philadelphia Flyers game at Staples Center.

The game marks the beginning of the Kings’ 2017-18 regular season.

So many individuals from Southern California were involved in the occurrence on Sunday Night, including those who perished, were injured, and those who demonstrated heroism in the face of immense terror, risking their lives in an effort to save others.

Unfortunately, the Kings lost a family member and employee in Chrissy, who was in her first year as a Kings Fan Service Associate.

“Our organization is overwhelmed with grief over the loss of our colleague Chrissy. We would like to thank everyone for their outreach, love and support,” said Kings President Luc Robitaille. “In just a brief period of time, Chrissy had an immeasurable impact on all of us. We want to make every effort to ensure that everyone knows how special she was and the impact she already had made on so many people. We would also ask that everyone please understand and respect her family’s wish for privacy at this difficult time.”

Kings to honor victims/heroes from Sunday’s tragedy, including recognition of team employee Christiana Duarte. https://t.co/2M1cNA5paM

— LAKingsPR (@LAKingsPR) October 4, 2017

As part of Thursday night’s game the Kings plan to:

Honor Chrissy and all of the other victims during a special pregame ceremony with both a moment of silence and a video. The Kings will also at that time salute First Responders who were on the scene.

Kings players will wear a special ‘CD’ sticker on the back of their helmets during the game. Kings staff members will be wearing a special pin in her honor.

All proceeds from the Kings’ 50-50 raffle sales that evening will be donated by the Kings Care Foundation to the Las Vegas Victims’ Fund. Kings players will match the funds raised.

The Kings are encouraging fans to help support Duarte’s official GoFundMe page.

“Our hearts go out to Chrissy’s family and loved ones and everyone else associated with this horrible act of terror,” said Kings captain/forward Anze Kopitar. “As a team it was important for us to contribute in any way possible.”